Just in time for the finals of Wimbledon, HBO will debut its 42-minute-long tennis mockumentary 7 Days in Hell Saturday at 10 p.m. Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Andy Samberg and Game of Thrones’ Kit Harington star as dueling tennis players looking back at their week-long Wimbledon match, depicted in the style of sports documentaries like ESPN’s “30 for 30” series. The following are reviews from TV critics around the web, compiled by B&C.
“Quick, easy, filthy, stupid, funny. You don't need to know anything more.”
— Alan Sepinwall, HitFix
“So if you’ve always wanted to chase down the anonymous tennis tournament official who intones, ‘Quiet, please’ before a serve and smack him or her upside the head for the crimes of affectedness and self-importance, 7 Days in Hell is made for you.”
— Neil Genzlinger, The New York Times
“Which is why this inconsequential trifle of a TV movie ends up being a winning set. It serves up just the right combination of silly and sly, and—rare and wonderful in a comedy—it knows when to get off the court.”
— Alex McCown, A.V. Club
“By that measure, 7 Days in Hell has its share of strong points, and given the marquee names involved, it’s easy to see why HBO would provide subscribers with a courtside seat. That said, the highlights are offset by enough faults, as the match drags on, to prevent this from being scored as a clear-cut winner.”
— Brian Lowry, Variety
“It’s very possible that you’ll never watch another sports documentary again without breaking out in spasms of laughter as you remember some of the over-the-top, raunchy and out-and-out juvenile humor of HBO’s 7 Days in Hell, premiering Saturday. It is just about the funniest self-contained hour of TV this year.”
— David Wiegand, San Francisco Chronicle
“Fortunately, with its nutty playfulness, 7 Days in Hell is 45 minutes of fast-moving, goofy fun.”
— Kristi Turnquist, The Oregonian
